24: Season Two
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Movie Reviews of 24: Season Two
Movie Review: An original, fast-paced series...
Summary: 5 Stars
First airing in November 2001, 24 quickly established itself as one of the best television series around and solidified itself as a cult classic icon. Utilizing a novel premise, each season of 24 comprises a single day in lives of its characters, with each of the 24 episodes representing a one-hour time segment of that day. Kiefer Sutherland stars in the imminent role of Jack Bauer, a government agent periodically faced with enormous challenges within a single day. Each season is reminiscent of a fast-paced Hollywood action thriller, but it's only a busy day in the life of the heroic Bauer...
Season 2 supposedly takes place eighteen months after Jack's big day in Los Angeles. Jack is now dealing with the death of his wife and is estranged from his daughter Kim. As a result, he contemplates retirement. But when President Palmer personally requests his help, Jack agrees to take on a new assignment. In so doing, Jack learns that a Middle-Eastern terrorist group called Second Wave is going to detonate a nuclear device in Los Angeles in the next 24 hours. Yet again the clock is ticking, and yet again, only Jack Bauer stands in the way of an evil conspiracy reaching its final fruition...
The 24 (Season 2) DVD features a number of breathtaking episodes including the season premiere which begins with President Palmer and his son fishing in an Oregon lake when he's called away for an emergency. Ushered into an underground bunker, he learns of a terrorist plot to set off a nuclear weapon in the Los Angeles area in the next 24 hours. At the CIA's Counter Terrorism Unit, George Mason is ordered to contact Jack Bauer in respect to the case, but it takes the personal appeal of President Palmer to move Jack into action. Meanwhile Kim, working as a housekeeper/nanny, overhears a domestic dispute between her boss and his wife, and she locks herself and the man's daughter in a bedroom. As the episode concludes, Jack learns that the key to uncovering the whereabouts of the nuclear device may lie with a domestic terrorist organization he once infiltrated... Other notable episodes from Season 2 include (#31) in which Jack and Nina set up a sting to see if a contact can lead them to the site of the bomb, and (#46) in which Jack stands on the verge of making a break in the case but has his efforts thwarted by the president's ex-wife, who's involved in the terrorist conspiracy...
The DVD Report
Movie Review: The Clock Is Ticking...Again
Summary: 5 Stars
After Jack Bauer successfully saved Presidential candidate, David Palmer from assassination and witnessed his wife's murder at the hands of former lover and colleague Nina Myers, there didn't seem to be much more that could go wrong for Jack. If you thought the worst part of Jack Bauer's life was over, then, you don't know Jack!
Picking up approximately 2 years after the events of "24: Season One", Jack's life is in shambles. Jack, (played brilliantly by Keifer Sutherland) no longer works at CTU, his daughter Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) has all but severed ties with him because of the constant reminder of her dead mother, and now the security of the United States is threatened yet again. Now terrorists have threatened to detonate a nuclear device in the middle of L.A., now faced with a possible panic current President David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) must ask Jack Bauer to come out of retirement, and infiltrate the terrorist cell behind the threat and stop the bomb from being detonated.
After an incredible, action packed first season, many felt the Fox network really had their work cut out for them in returning for a second season of "24". Using the same real-time format, virtually the same cast and having more bad stuff happen in the so called, "City of Angels", and calling upon the same man to save the day. It seemed as if Fox was maybe expecting too much from television audiences; however, any critics were quickly silenced when the clock began ticking on Day 2 of this gripping drama, as week after week audiences across America tuned in to see just how Jack Bauer and Co. were going to save the day. The redeeming fact to what makes this show believable, aside from the real-time format and realistic characters, is the fact that in season 2, or Day 2, the process to solving this threat is conducted with more teamwork. Yes, Jack works primarily alone, but he utilizes his fellow CTU agents much more to his advantage this time around.
If you thought Day 1 was bad enough, Day 2 will blow you away.
"24: Season 2" is highly recommended.
Movie Review: I'm ready for more!!
Summary: 5 Stars
The intensity of 24's second season was greatly heightened by its coincidence with our fear of the war on Iraq. Moment after moment hit so close to home, yet it also contained personal touches much like its first season. Many people wonder whether or not the show can keep going. Once the novelty of something wears off, then what does it have? However if 24 was all about its ticking clock and real-time structure, then the novelty would've worn off a long time ago. I'm no longer "fascinated" by the format of the show like I was in the beginning, but I still love it for its tension. I care about its characters because the weaving in and out of the many storylines is done so beautifully.I will say that this season dropped the ball in at least one way; Kim's storyline was rather expendable. Many fans believe that she should be killed off, but I stand for the notion that Elisha Cuthbert is too good of an actress to let go. The problem with the Kim plot has nothing to do with the acting and little to do with the situations she's put in. As a matter of fact, I think that the events of her day are compelling within their own right. However what Kim goes through has very little, if any, affect on everything else that takes place on the show. Other storylines all strengthen one another - take one away and the plausible and/or intensity of the others is greatly diminished. Take Kim's story away, and you probably wouldn't know the difference; so with it there, it's merely distracting given the urgency of potential war and genocide.
We should care about Kim simply because we care about Jack's love for his daughter, but in the world of 24, if it's not important to the plot then fans don't care. But I'm not so sure that killing off Kim is the answer. In the coming season (3), they could very well write her off then make the same mistake with another character. While they may not be able to come up with another plot that hits close to home like season 2 did, as long as they keep the tension and connect the storylines, season 3 has potential to be the best yet.
Movie Review: Thrives On The Intensity Of Jack Bauer
Summary: 5 Stars
Usually, I judge the success of any televised drama by its ability to reinvent itself from season to season. Too much of the same will lead to stagnation, while too much change will actually alienate loyal viewers. 24, however, is a completely new breed of show and thus does not adhere to the typical critiques of TV drama.
Essentially, the second season of 24 follows the same parameters as the first. Over the course of a single day, CTU (Counter-Terrorism Unit) agent Jack Bauer must get himself (and the nation) out of a crisis...this time when a nuclear bomb is set to detonate in Los Angeles and could prompt World War 3 if the plot succeeds. Of course, besides Bauer, a host of other characters (Kim Bauer, Tony Almeida, George Mason, etc.) round out the cast. The twists and turns are just as mind-blowing as the first go-round, yet it never seems to get old due to the great acting and straight-forward plot devices (every episode ends with a new huge twist).
The biggest reason the Season Two succeeds, though, is that much more time is devoted to the character of Jack Bauer, who really is the fulcrum of the show. The episodes in which the raging, frenetic Jack takes center stage will have you on the edge of your seat and literally cheering out loud! Whereas in the first half of the first season Bauer was little more than a concerned parent, this entire season sees him wriggling his way out of tight spot after tight spot...MacGyver has nothing on Jack Bauer. I never thought I would find an actor who brings more intensity to his role than Matthew Fox gives to Jack Shepard on LOST, but Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer eclipses him.
So, if you were intrigued (or completely thrilled!) by the first season of 24, this second season will not let you down. Between the plot twists, the intensity of Bauer, and the surprising return or demise of a few old "friends", this season again will have you watching episode after episode deep into the night.
Movie Review: If in doubt, throw in another torture scene
Summary: 5 Stars
Right from the first scene in the first episode, you know there is going to be a lot of lingering suffering in this series. But this is pre-Abu Graib, when the US government thought that torture (and extraordinary rendition) was a justifiable way of averting calamity. The producers of 24 take up this theme with a vengeance, and Jack Bauer dies at least once in this story, although you know that he gets resurrected, otherwise there couldn't be a series 3, 4 and 5, could there?
The story is better than the first series in the sense that it is one continuous plot. (Series One suffers from a big change of story, pace and production team after episode #14.) But in order to keep Kimberley Bauer in the story, she is subjected to a series of adventures almost wholly unrelated to the main nuclear-bomb story yet which happen coincidentally on the same day. The girl she looks after is incredibly annoying, by the way. But if you want to target a teenage audience, I guess you have to have some teenage characters.
There are some highly unlikely turnarounds during this 24-hour period. A president gets replaced then reinstated. His ex-wife worms her way back into his bunker, then gets expelled, then becomes a virtual heroine. The top baddies seem perfectly happy to switch their plans at the last moment from a start-a-Middle-Eastern-war strategy to an assassinate-the-president plan. The aspect that perhaps the director does best is the no-sex relationship developments. Tony and Michelle look early on as if they're going to get it together, but by the end, they both know they're too damned tired. And Jack and the woman he rescues develop an understanding, without any need to hop into bed before the day is out. (James Bond would have had at least three lovelies by this stage.)
I'm not happy about seeing actors in pain, and I'd frankly much rather see them in bed, but I guess torture is unfortunately a fundamental part of this plot. Shame!